


Invitations

by xslytherclawx



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, Harry Potter Rare Pair Bingo: Wildcard, Narcissa Black Malfoy-centric, POV Second Person, Post-Second War with Voldemort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:36:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28728999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xslytherclawx/pseuds/xslytherclawx
Summary: After the war, the invitations stop.No one tells you that will happen.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy & Narcissa Black Malfoy, Narcissa Black Malfoy/Mrs Zabini
Comments: 8
Kudos: 13
Collections: Harry Potter Rare Pair Bingo Wildcards!





	Invitations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [space_mermaid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/space_mermaid/gifts).



> This was a prize for Sebastian (space_mermaid) for winning round two of HP Rare Pair Bingo. I have Sebastian's permission to post this as a gift, and I hope y'all enjoy it.

The thing that no one tells you about saving the entire wizarding world (and your child, of course; it all comes down to Draco in the end) is how quickly it can make you persona non grata in all the circles you used to frequent.

Much more so when your husband gets sentenced to life in prison while you and your son are merely given a lecture and ordered to give some gold to the people the Dark Lord forced you to keep in your dungeons. (As you have more money than you know what to do with, you don’t even notice it’s gone. Truly.)

It’s a slap on the wrist. Everyone knows it.

And everyone knows  _ why. _

No one warned you the invitations would dry up.

It’s a small price to pay for your son’s safety. You know that. After all, isn’t that why you did it? So he would be safe?

And he is safe.

And he is, it is impossible to deny, happier without his father around. 

At first, you thought it was simply a coincidence. The War was over. The Dark Lord was dead. No longer would your son have to risk his life for ideals that are dying out – that will be dead in a few generations.

Purism’s last hurrah, though you’re certain that there will be more prejudices to follow. Different prejudices.

But it’s there. Your son becomes more open. More loving. He kisses your cheek in the morning and tells you that he loves you – things he has not done since he was a child. 

He’s less anxious. You never even noticed he was anxious in the first place until he wasn’t anymore. 

You never noticed that you were, too.

He doesn’t once ask to visit his father.

You don’t suggest it, either.

Instead, one day, you go to see your solicitor. It’s all rather straightforward, she says, especially given the circumstances.

“The circumstances” being a euphemism for his life imprisonment. As if you didn’t know the risks when you married him.

When you tell your son, he doesn’t try to talk you out of it. He just asks you whether you’re sure. You are.

And a month later, you’re a free woman.

Narcissa Black once again.

From the way your son reacts, you half expect him to ask to change his name. You remind him he can if he wants to.

He says that he doesn’t.

The invitations don’t start coming again. They were never going to.

Instead, you repair some bridges with your sister.

You try.

It will never be like it was before, and maybe that’s fine.

* * *

Three and a half years after you save your son’s life, you receive an invitation in the post.

It is not for a ball. It is not for a dinner party.

It isn’t for any formal engagement at all.

It’s for tea with Amora Zabini.

You remember Amora, of course. After you, she was the most beautiful girl in Slytherin. She was a few years ahead of you, of course. In Andromeda’s year.

Bellatrix once cut her hair off in her sleep to try to exact some sort of vengeance. Amora wore the short hair with a confidence and grace that infuriated Bellatrix even further.

You’re not sure why that incident is stuck in your memory. Perhaps because when Bellatrix cut your hair in your sleep, you cried for hours until your mother fed you a potion to regrow your hair.

Perhaps it’s because Amora, herself, fascinated you.

She’s halfway through her forties now. Like you, she is a mother. Like you, she has remained beautiful through all these years.

You tell yourself that it’s simply months of isolation, with only Draco for company (he’s started talking to the House Elves, and it reminds you so much of Regulus you ache). Anyone would be unsure of her footing.

But you were raised in the House of Black.

You know that isn’t what’s happening here.

So you come back. Again. And again.

Amora invites you over for Shabbos dinner. She invites you over for Rosh Hashanah, and you try not to notice the shape of the cut figs or pomegranates – though with the way Amora looks at you, you have to wonder whether it’s inevitable.

You dance around each other.

You’re aware it’s a dance as she pours you wine for Chanukah, as she feeds you sweet fried dough with her fingers.

You don’t do anything that night. You’re too much a Slytherin for that. You enjoy the chase.

You make her work for it, and in turn, she makes you work for it.

It’s Draco who finally snaps. “I’m aware I’m of age, but you  _ are _ aware that you need to tell me if you’re going to remarry.”

“Remarry?”

“Amora Zabini,” Draco says plainly. No games, no secrets. He’s progressed past the need for that. You like to think that it’s a benefit of loving him – your child has turned out better than you.

You stroke his hair and tell him that you have no intentions of remarrying any time soon.

But when you go over to Amora’s the next afternoon for tea, you kiss her.

Five minutes later, you’re in her bedroom, on your knees with your head between her legs as she tangles her fingers in your hair.

It’s not a marriage. You’re not certain whether it will ever be.

But now that you’ve tasted her, you don’t know that you can stop.

Something in the back of your mind reminds you about her husbands, and their deaths, but when she returns the favour by allowing you to sit on her face… some things are worth the risk.

**Author's Note:**

> come visit me on [tumblr](https://xslytherclawx.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Please feel free to join my Harry Potter [discord server](https://discord.gg/yb6bS3c)!


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